Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Cabbage white caterpillar

Pieris rapae (Linnaeus)


Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae

Size range

  • Mature larvae 20–30mm long

Distribution

  • Originally from Europe and North America
  • In New Zealand since about 1929, now found throughout the country

Life History

  • Green caterpillars are pests of cabbage and other plants of the Brassicaceae family
  • Several parasites, attacking the larval or pupal stages, keep numbers in control

Additional images